Aljazeera.Net, hursday 13 May 2004, 13:38 Makka Time, 10:38 GMT
Who is behind the Maluku violence?
By Marianne Kearney in Jakarta
Members of the Indonesian security forces are operating as snipers, and have been
fuelling the latest conflict in Ambon, say investigators.
[PHOTO: A man carries a home-made bomb on the streets of Ambon]
Almost two years of relative peace in south Maluku's capital was broken when a
hard-line group of Christian separatists, known as RMS, raised their independence
flag and marked the anniversary of their movement with a parade through the town on
25 April.
The parade and the failure of police to arrest leaders of the RMS for raising their flag, a
highly provocative act in Indonesia, sparked Christian-Muslim clashes. Twenty-four
hours later, 20 people lay dead.
But a day after the violence, groups of professional snipers began taking pot shots at
police as well as Christians and Muslims, which threatened to turn the contained
clashes into full-scale fighting reminiscent of the one that raged for three years.
Between 1999 and 2002, at least 5000 people were killed and half a million others
displaced in the sectarian war that pitched Christian militias against Muslim rivals.
However, a government-sponsored peace pact brought a halt to much of the fighting
and the militias were disbanded.
Deadly streets
But since the RMS celebrated its anniversary, snipers have turned Ambon's streets
into death traps.
[PHOTO: The United Nation mission office ablaze in Ambon in April]
They are responsible for almost half of the 38 deaths, as well as many more injuries,
says Ichsan Malik from an Ambon non-governmental group, the Peace Building
Institute.
At least 10 of these snipers are members of the local military command, says Rum
Suneth, a former civil servant and researcher at the Peace Building Institute. Suneth
says he saw military men he recognises being shot by the security forces during one
anti-sniper operation last week.
However, he suspects they were taken to a military hospital for treatment and has not
been able to interview them.
Meanwhile, a Western analyst, and expert on the conflict, says police sources have
revealed the arrest of at least one police and one military sniper last week.
Arrests
Nasir Rahawarin, the secretary for the Muslim Clerics Council of Indonesia (MUI) in
Ambon, says police informers have told him that a group of former police and military
officers carrying out sniper attacks had been arrested.
Unlike previous violence when snipers were aligned with a religious militia, these
snipers have been ordered to shoot both Muslims and Christians says Rahawarin,
repeating information from a police source.
[TEXTBOX: "If all the snipers are arrested, then the normal community will not be
involved in the conflict any more." Nasir Rahawarin, secretary, Muslim Clerics Council
of Indonesia (MUI)]
Such snipers indicate that the violence is the result of long pent up tensions, argue
analysts.
"I'm sure it's orchestrated. We just don't know whether it is from Jakarta or Ambon,"
says the analyst.
The snipers appear to be deployed primarily to prolong and escalate the violence says
Rahawarin.
"If all the snipers are arrested, then the normal community will not be involved in the
conflict any more."
Official denials
Police and military spokesmen deny the claims that security forces could be behind
the attacks.
Police say they have shot several snipers but those were never arrested because they
were rescued by their companions.
Military commander General Endriartono Sutarto said any troops who were found to
be participating in the conflict would be tried, adding that the police had no political
agenda in Maluku.
And as the Indonesian media reported that the snipers appeared to be using
military-issue weapons, military spokesman Sjafrie Samsoedin said the snipers' guns
might have been stolen from a police armoury in 2000.
Separatists blamed
The police and military commanders have blamed much of this violence on the RMS,
arguing it is primarily a conflict between Muslim nationalists and Christian separatists.
The wife and daughter of the separatist leader, Alex Manuputty, who fled to the US,
have been arrested and will be charged with treason.
[PHOTO: Many Indonesians say they would like a former general as premier]
Meanwhile, Ambon's former police chief, Brigadier General Bambang Sutrisno, has
been replaced for failing to control the separatists.
However, some analysts say blaming the continuing violence only on the separatist
force, or RMS, is illogical.
"The RMS are only 200 to 300 people. They are not all over Ambon. This is a very
extreme group of Christians who are not supported by other Christians," says Pastor
Cornelis Bohm, from the Amboina Crisis Centre.
There are several possible reasons as to why the violence may be orchestrated by
members of the security forces say analysts.
Motivations
Rahawarin says they may be have been paid by local thugs running security as well
as smuggling and construction rackets during the previous conflict and who are now
looking to regain their power.
Alternatively, there are accusations that the conflict may have been ignited or inflamed
so that the military can regain control over security in Maluku, which has been under
police command since a civil emergency was lifted last September.
Police and military have been fighting for control of Indonesia's provinces, and ever
since the police's successful investigation into the Bali bombings, police forces have
become far more powerful.
Controlling security in conflict zones such as Ambon, or Aceh, is lucrative for the
military, which often receives kickbacks and can control vital industries such as
logging or fishing.
Political repercussions
Preparations for the July presidential elections may be another reason.
Ex-military figures may be trying to make the civilian government appear incapable of
dealing with the country's sectarian and separatist conflicts.
But regardless of the actual motivations, the unrest could impact the campaign of one
of the prime candidates in the presidential race - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY,
and his vice-presidential choice - Yusuf Kalla - who was the architect of Maluku's
peace deal point out analysts.
[PHOTO: Indonesian soldiers undergo an exercise]
"Who will benefit from this? It's clear that those in competition with SBY will benefit
because Maluku is a big success story for SBY and Kalla," says political analyst
Daniel Sparringa from the University of Airlangga in East Java.
The two main candidates to benefit politically from falling support for Yudhoyono would
be either retired general Wiranto or President Megawati Sukarnoputri, says Sparringa.
Wiranto, a former armed forces commander and defence chief, is the presidential
candidate for the powerful Golkar party.
Yudhoyono, also a retired general and a recently retired security minister, is quite
popular but if he starts to look weak and ineffective, many voters in search of a strong
leader with a military background could turn to Wiranto in the July elections, say
analysts.
'Slander'
Wiranto's advisors dismiss any accusations against their candidate.
"That's fitnah [slander]," says Tito Sulistio, Wiranto's campaign manager.
A senior editor who refuses to be named, points out that such accusations could be
part of a campaign by Wiranto's political opponents to discredit him.
He says non-government groups have been paid to demonstrate about past human
rights abuses such as the shooting of student demonstrators by security forces that
occurred during Wiranto's rule as armed forces commander.
Recent opinion polls show that many Indonesians prefer an ex-general rather than a
civilian as their next president.
Recurrence
This is not be the first time that security forces play a crucial part in Maluku's
violence.
Back in 2000, rogue generals trained and equipped Muslim militia, in particular, the
Laskar Jihad, a Java-based organisation.
Analysts then said certain factions of the military backed the militia because they
wanted to destabilise Abd al-Rahman Wahid's government, who was trying to bring
the military under civilian control.
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